I consider myself to have some skills when it comes to hand shadow puppets. Just give me a flashlight in a dark room and I could get a dog, a rabbit and some strange three ear creature to appear on the wall. Once again, technology is doing its best to render my skills irrelevant. I mean, how can I compete with the Light Stars Animated Hologram Projector by Interactive Toy Concepts?

Light Stars project fully animated figures on the wall, ceiling or pretty much any surface you can shine a flashlight at. As if an animated figure was not enough to put my shadow puppets to shame, guess what the figures are? Yep, Iron Man and Spider-Man. If it wasn’t for the fact that I still need my fingers to change the animations on the Light Stars, I think I would just chop them off.

This Is Going To Take Sleepovers To A Whole New Level

Super Heroes up to 6 feet tall dancing on your walls? We might as well just rename sleepovers to stay-awake-all-night-and-be-cranking-the-next-day-overs. Catchy, no? Seriously, the LightStars are good, simple fun. Simply use the 5 buttons on the wand to select the animation you want to play, as described in the video, and then turn the focus ring until Spiderman or Ironman look sharp. The darker the room, the more fun.

Due to some issues with our cameras and low-light, it is a little hard to see in the video, but the animations are very smooth. Both Iron Man and Spider-Man look great and the movements are fluid. Thankfully for us parents, the Light Stars are silent. I am sure they considered putting some sound effects on the LightStars, but as a Dad I am so grateful that they did not. You can watch animations endlessly, but having to listen to the same sound effect 500 times, that would drive any parent insane.

For $25, Put An Animated Super Hero On Your Wall

As much as I resent my shadow puppet skills being put to shame, it is impossible not to love the Light Stars. You’ve got giant super heroes dancing on your walls, what’s not to love? A simple toy (even includes batteries) – pull it out of the box and 5 seconds later the kids are playing. No recharging, no cables, no cartridges – just simply press, imagine and have fun. The Light Stars sell for about $25 each…but for $23 I will come over and do my famous rabbit shadow puppet on your wall. Hey, if you can’t beat’em, undercut’em.